Ludwig meyer



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUDWIG MEYER, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

PROCESS OF IMPROVING OIL-PAINTINGS BY PHOTOGRAPHY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 473,767, dated April26, 1892. Application filed September 21, 1891. Serial No. 406,382. (Nospecimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUDWIG MEYER, painter, of Berlin,in the Kingdom ofPrussia and German Empire, have invented a new and useful Process ofImproving (Correcting) Oil-Paintings by Photography, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to processes of iniproving (correcting)oil-paintings by photography.

The object of the present invention is the reproduction of oil-paintingsand colored pictures by the aid of photolithography in such a mannerthat while the result is more true to the original the reproduction iseffected at a less cost than by existing known processes, and isfurther, from an artistic view, very much in advance of them and ofphotographs.

This invention will also enable less-gifted artists to produce pictureswhich cannot easily be detected from real paintings.

According to this invention, the picture to be reproduced-for example,an oil-painting from a public gallery-is first enlarged or reduced orreproduced by ordinary photography, and any desired number ofphotolithographs are then printed therefrom. Each of thesephotolithographs is then illuminated with oil-colors, the outlines andthe chiarooscuro being produced by the photolithograph. The picture thusilluminated, when thoroughly dry, is securely transferred to or fixedupon an artists canvas or other suitable foundation With the oil-colorsnext the foundation, and the paper on which the photolithograph wasprinted is then removed, as in the ordinary transfer pictures. If apicture with very high artistic finish is desired, it is, after havingbeen illuminated and transferred, retouched with oil colors by anefficient artist, whereby a more harmonious blending of the variousshades and colors is insured. It will be evidentfrom this descriptionthat the illuminating colors lie between the canvas or other foundationand the shading of the photolithograph, which circumstance shows at oncethe difference between my new process and 'result .and those obtained bythe ordinary methods of procedure. According to these methods, the printorphotograph forms the ground upon which the colors are distributed, anda natural effect equal to a real painting is not produced, because theshading and outlines of the ground picture vanish and are lost throughthe use of opaque colors. By my method, on the contrary, everyobjectbears its peculiar color, upon which the shadows rest, as innature, and in a picture supposed to represent nature these conditionsshould not be reversed.

I am aware that already a method for the reproduction of coloredpictures is known in which photography illumination and printing areemployed; but in this process each individual picture is reproduceddirect from a negative by a photo-printing process, nomechanically-printed prints being employed. I desire it therefore to beunderstood that I do not claim the process hereinbefore described withreference to such photographic prints, but only with reference tomechanicallyprinted photographs, such as photolithographs. I

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

1. A method for the reproduction of oilpaintings and colored pictures,which consists in photographing the original painting,photolithographing said photograph, painting the face of saidphotolithograph with pigments corresponding to the original painting,applying the face of this painted photolithograph to a stretched canvasor other suitable material, stripping off the photolithograph from thesaid canvas, and finally retouching the applied painting, substantiallyas described.

2. A method for the reproduction of oilpaintings and colored pictures,which consists in photographing the original painting,photolithographing said photograph, paint ing the face of saidphotolithograph with pigments corresponding to the original painting,

applying the face of this painted photolithograph to a stretched canvasor other suitable material, and finally stripping off the photolithograph from the said canvas and leaving the printing thereon,substantially as described.

3. A method for the conversion of photolithographs int-o oil or othercolored paintings, which consists in applying to the face of In Witnesswhereof I have hereunto set my said photolithograph suitable coloredpighand in presence of two Witnesses. lnents, attaching the face of thiscolored photolithograph be stretched canvas 01' other LUDWIG MEYER. 5suitable material, and then stripping off the Witnesses:

photolithograph and retouching the picture PAUL FISCHER,

left on the canvas, substantially as described. ALBERT ITZIGROHRY.

